Kacen Callender is originally from Saint Thomas in the US Virgin Islands. Kacen has a BA from Sarah Lawrence College and an MFA from the New School’s writing for children program. Their debut novel, Hurricane Child, was the winner of the 2019 Stonewall Book Award and the 2019 Lambda Literary Award, as well as a Kirkus Best Book of 2018. Kacen loves playing RPG video games and watching soul-sucking reality TV shows in their free time.

Almost every book written for youth by Kacen Callender has been challenged.

• This is Kind of An Epic Love Story (Lambda Literary Award Nominee for LGBTQ Children’s/Young Adult (2018))
• Hurricane Child( Stonewall Book Award for Mike Morgan & Larry Romans Children’s & Young Adult Literature Award (2019), Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ Children’s/Young Adult (2018), Whippoorwill Award (2019)
• King of the Dragonflies (National Book Award for Young People’s Literature (2020), Vermont Golden Dome Book Award Nominee (2022), Coretta Scott King Book Award Nominee for Author (2021), Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ Children’s/Middle Grade (2021), Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Middle Grade & Children’s (2020), Walter Dean Myers Award Nominee for Younger Readers Category (2021), Rebecca Caudill Young Readers’ Book Award Nominee (2022), Whippoorwill Award (2021))
• Moonflower (2022)

Some authors write because they have a calling to tell stories. Some blend that with genuine care and concern for young people. If you’ve ever read any of Kacen’s books, you will have realized they’re writing to protect and save lives, as well as to spread joy through storytelling. Kacen does this in a way that prods readers to question and analyze the status quo. But, as we all know it’s dangerous to some when the masses begin to think.

What do you choose to do when you see an author with so many, heck with any, challenged books? Do you feel sorry for them? Realize they must be writing something incredibly authentic?  Buy their books? Request them from the library? Write letters to the local library board about how good the book is?

Maybe you’ll order a copy of Infinity Alchemist, it releases today!

Just don’t pull the covers over your head and throw anyone a pity party.

Contact
Website: https://www.kacencallender.com/

Next Book: Infinity Alchemist (bk. 1) (6 February 2024)
Most Recent Book: Lark and Kasim Start a Revolution ((2022)